Moving home to a smaller place means I must merge AV and hifi systems. That means a change of of PreAmp and on the short list are used NAC112 and NAC202 since these will allow my AV amp to control the volume to the shared front/hifi speakers.
As I will be keeping the Audiolab 8000 monoblocks It’s just a pre amp change for now.
I would appreciate your advice on the Sonic differences between these amps and which power supplies to buy to run them.
Thanks in advance.
PS currently using Proac studio 140s but would like to upgrade these to something smaller like Dynaudio Special 40s
Of the two pre-amps, I would definitely choose the NAC202 over the NAC112; it’s far more capable, flexible, and the encoders on some NAC112s can start to show problems. Of course, as you note, with any Naim pre-amp you’ll need some way to power it; at the most basic level the lower end power amps have internal pre-amp supplies. Obviously you won’t have that here, so a dedicated power supply will be needed - not a bad thing at all, as this will allow better performance anyway. You should look at a Flatcap/2/2x/2xs as the minimum, better yet a Hicap.
Otherwise, at lower cost, don’t ignore the NAC122x or the NAC152xs. Both require the Flatcap2/2x/2xs power supply, the latter can even run with a pair of them for ultimate performance.
Also bear in mind you’ll need suitable DIN4-RCA Phono interconnects to connect the pre-outs (which are on the power supply) to your Audiolab monobloks.
It will be interesting to compare the old 8000C
With the a newer NAC202.
For a while I was running an Eastern Electric M88 with Tungsol KT120 calves and that was an interesting contrast too. After a while I decided I preferred the precision of the solid state amp
If funds allow then between the two the 202 is a no brainer, but as Richard alluded to don’t dismiss something in between such as the 122x - I owned this with a 150x and when I leapt a few rungs to 282/250DR yes, the difference was immense , but it also made me appreciate what ridiculous value for money the 122x/150x combo was. It will allow the connections you want as well as having a dedicated subwoofer out socket
Look at your AV v HiFi use of your system(s) and do consider the move to a stereo AV system. I have suggested this to a few friends over the years who really appreciated the lack of clutter when moving to smaller place, without any loss in involvement with their AV experience. Financially a winner as well.
ProAc Studio 140’s are lovely, I would go far to keep them. A friend of mine has them and they work well both for hifi and av. I would at least try them extensively in the smaller place.
I don’t know what you mean by a stereo AV system but if you mean dump my pre amp and mono blocks in favour of using my AV amp for both hifi and AV then that’s not going to happen. My listening room is a good size, I just don’t have separate rooms for AV and audio. Additionally, I would prioritise music over movies everytime.
Ah I mean the opposite Tinto. If you can, have a listen to a movie/TV through just the stereo pre and mono blocks. You may decide two speakers are just fine and you can live without the AV clutter. Easy to try. Do remember to set the sources to stereo (obviously).
Certainly worth a go but that’s what I started with years ago. I do like the centre speaker for dialogue and a sub adds more drama, but I will play about. My onkyo amp is a bit of a beast size wise